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Ben's Dream: A Story About a Floating House and World Monuments for Children
On a terrifically rainy day, Ben has a dream in which he and his house float by the monuments of the world, half submerged in flood-water.
32 pages, Hardcover
First published April 26, 1982
4 people are currently reading
257 people want to read
About the author
Chris Van Allsburg
56 books1,129 followersChris was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan on June 18, 1949, the second child of Doris Christiansen Van Allsburg and Richard Van Allsburg. His sister Karen was born in 1947.
Chris’s paternal grandfather, Peter, owned and operated a creamery, a place where milk was turned into butter, cream, cottage cheese, and ice cream. It was named East End Creamery and after they bottled the milk (and made the other products) they delivered it to homes all around Grand Rapids in yellow and blue trucks.
When Chris was born, his family lived in an old farm house next door to the large brick creamery building. It was a very old house that, like the little house in Virginia Lee Burton’s story, had once looked over farmland. But by 1949, the house was surrounded by buildings and other houses. Chris’s father ran the dairy with Chris’s three uncles after his grandfather Peter retired.
When Chris was three years old, his family moved to a new house at the edge of Grand Rapids that was part of a development; a kind of planned neighborhood, that was still being built.
There remained many open fields and streams and ponds where a boy could catch minnows and frogs, or see a firefly at night. It was about a mile and a half to Breton Downs School, which Chris walked to every day and attended until 6th grade, when the Van Allsburg family moved again.
The next house they lived in was an old brick Tudor Style house in East Grand Rapids. It was a street that looked like the street on the cover of The Polar Express. The houses were all set back the same distance from the street. Between the street and the sidewalk grew enormous Elm trees whose branches reached up and touched the branches of the trees on the other side of the street. Chris moved to this street with his mom, dad, sister, and two Siamese cats. One named Fafner and the other name Eloise.
Chris went to junior and senior high school in East Grand Rapids. He didn’t take art classes during this time. His interests and talents seemed to be more in the area of math and science.
Chris’s paternal grandfather, Peter, owned and operated a creamery, a place where milk was turned into butter, cream, cottage cheese, and ice cream. It was named East End Creamery and after they bottled the milk (and made the other products) they delivered it to homes all around Grand Rapids in yellow and blue trucks.
When Chris was born, his family lived in an old farm house next door to the large brick creamery building. It was a very old house that, like the little house in Virginia Lee Burton’s story, had once looked over farmland. But by 1949, the house was surrounded by buildings and other houses. Chris’s father ran the dairy with Chris’s three uncles after his grandfather Peter retired.
When Chris was three years old, his family moved to a new house at the edge of Grand Rapids that was part of a development; a kind of planned neighborhood, that was still being built.
There remained many open fields and streams and ponds where a boy could catch minnows and frogs, or see a firefly at night. It was about a mile and a half to Breton Downs School, which Chris walked to every day and attended until 6th grade, when the Van Allsburg family moved again.
The next house they lived in was an old brick Tudor Style house in East Grand Rapids. It was a street that looked like the street on the cover of The Polar Express. The houses were all set back the same distance from the street. Between the street and the sidewalk grew enormous Elm trees whose branches reached up and touched the branches of the trees on the other side of the street. Chris moved to this street with his mom, dad, sister, and two Siamese cats. One named Fafner and the other name Eloise.
Chris went to junior and senior high school in East Grand Rapids. He didn’t take art classes during this time. His interests and talents seemed to be more in the area of math and science.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 116 reviews
January 31, 2020
A fun expedition through the imagination of Chris Van Allsburg. There is a big storm coming and Ben is inside trying to do his homework when he falls asleep. He dreams his house is floating in a flooded world and he floats past 10 major monuments in the world like the Great Wall of China or Mt Rushmore. He wakes up to play baseball.
It’s a black and white story and as you expect, the drawings are beautiful. The story begins and ends with words, but the middle is wordless.
I found this entertaining and a fun way to see places in the world.
The nephew thought this was ok. He found houses floating on water to see the world rather interesting. He didn’t think much happened in this story, but he was entertained. He gave it 3 stars.
It’s a black and white story and as you expect, the drawings are beautiful. The story begins and ends with words, but the middle is wordless.
I found this entertaining and a fun way to see places in the world.
The nephew thought this was ok. He found houses floating on water to see the world rather interesting. He didn’t think much happened in this story, but he was entertained. He gave it 3 stars.
December 3, 2011
1.Picture book, wordless.
2.Ben, while studying for a geography test on world famous landmarks, falls asleep. His dream takes him floating around the world past the landmarks that he is studying.
3.A. Chris Van Allsburg uses minimal words and different points of views of some of the most famous world landmarks to let his reader interpret this intriguing story. His scratchboard technique makes for intricate yet simple illustrations for the reader to analyze easily as they make their way through the book. Will the reader be able to tell the difference between reality and a dream?
B. The greatest aspect of this book are the illustrations and the different perspective of the famous landmarks. While reading this book the reader will find themselves looking from top to bottom, from side to side and looking at every angle of every illustration to find the unknown. While doing this, the reader also tries to figure out where in the world Ben and his house are. Is he in France, Russia or China? Luckily, Van Allsburg realized this and put a map tracking Ben’s adventures along with facts about each landmark noted in the book.
C.Ben is suddenly awakened on page 7 and the reader realizes that on pages 8-9, the house is floating away. All of a sudden, you see the Statue of Liberty and Big Ben also flooded so that Bed can float right on by. But, while floating through Egypt past the Sphinx does it get interesting, Ben spies his neighbor Margaret waving from her porch! After fishing in Russia, Ben gets a wakeup call from George on Mt. Rushmore, on page 28-29. The line between reality and dreamland are fuzzy but allows the reader to enjoy this book over and over again!
Curriculum Connection- This book would be a great addition to studying famous landmarks, also just a great read aloud to spark discussion about what interpretation. Such discussions could be from elementary all the way through high school, where the discussion would definitely be more mature and logical.
2.Ben, while studying for a geography test on world famous landmarks, falls asleep. His dream takes him floating around the world past the landmarks that he is studying.
3.A. Chris Van Allsburg uses minimal words and different points of views of some of the most famous world landmarks to let his reader interpret this intriguing story. His scratchboard technique makes for intricate yet simple illustrations for the reader to analyze easily as they make their way through the book. Will the reader be able to tell the difference between reality and a dream?
B. The greatest aspect of this book are the illustrations and the different perspective of the famous landmarks. While reading this book the reader will find themselves looking from top to bottom, from side to side and looking at every angle of every illustration to find the unknown. While doing this, the reader also tries to figure out where in the world Ben and his house are. Is he in France, Russia or China? Luckily, Van Allsburg realized this and put a map tracking Ben’s adventures along with facts about each landmark noted in the book.
C.Ben is suddenly awakened on page 7 and the reader realizes that on pages 8-9, the house is floating away. All of a sudden, you see the Statue of Liberty and Big Ben also flooded so that Bed can float right on by. But, while floating through Egypt past the Sphinx does it get interesting, Ben spies his neighbor Margaret waving from her porch! After fishing in Russia, Ben gets a wakeup call from George on Mt. Rushmore, on page 28-29. The line between reality and dreamland are fuzzy but allows the reader to enjoy this book over and over again!
Curriculum Connection- This book would be a great addition to studying famous landmarks, also just a great read aloud to spark discussion about what interpretation. Such discussions could be from elementary all the way through high school, where the discussion would definitely be more mature and logical.
April 19, 2010
“Ben’s Dream” is another classic book from the brilliant mind of Chris Van Allsburg, popular author of “Jumanji” and “The Polar Express.” In this book, a young boy named Ben tries to study for a geography test until he falls asleep and dreams of the different monuments of the world. “Ben’s Dream” is a fantastic book for children who want a creative way of learning geography.
Chris Van Allsburg’s story about a young boy dreaming about the great monuments of the world is highly imaginative and inspiring. Chris Van Allsburg makes geography fun to learn as he makes the story more surreal when Ben starts dreaming about the monuments of the world and all the monuments are floating on the sea. Yet, children who start to read this book will instantly recognize all the different monuments of the world as Ben travels across the sea and sees them. Chris Van Allsburg’s illustrations are beautiful and surreal, especially of the images in Ben’s dream where he sees various monuments around the world floating on the sea and all the images are in black and white which gives you a sense of an old movie.
“Ben’s Dream” is a truly wonderful and creative book about learning about geography in an imaginative way and this book will definitely have children be more interested in geography when they read this book. I would recommend this book to children ages five and up since smaller children might not understand about the different monuments around the world.
From my Epinions Review:
http://www0.epinions.com/review/Ben_s...
Chris Van Allsburg’s story about a young boy dreaming about the great monuments of the world is highly imaginative and inspiring. Chris Van Allsburg makes geography fun to learn as he makes the story more surreal when Ben starts dreaming about the monuments of the world and all the monuments are floating on the sea. Yet, children who start to read this book will instantly recognize all the different monuments of the world as Ben travels across the sea and sees them. Chris Van Allsburg’s illustrations are beautiful and surreal, especially of the images in Ben’s dream where he sees various monuments around the world floating on the sea and all the images are in black and white which gives you a sense of an old movie.
“Ben’s Dream” is a truly wonderful and creative book about learning about geography in an imaginative way and this book will definitely have children be more interested in geography when they read this book. I would recommend this book to children ages five and up since smaller children might not understand about the different monuments around the world.
From my Epinions Review:
http://www0.epinions.com/review/Ben_s...
October 7, 2019
Ben and Margaret decide to go home and study for their geography test when their plans to play baseball get ruined by the rain. While reading his text book, Ben dozes off and we are taken on a journey with no text, just historic landmarks, drawn in Chris Van Allsburg's distinctive, detailed, surreal style, taking us across the world. The book ends whimsically, with reader questioning reality.
The last page reviews these monuments and a map of how Ben traveled through the flooded dream world in his house. This would be a great book to use to go over geography with my future students. It would be fun to start the year off and see how many of these monuments they already recognized and read it at the end of the year to see how much they learned.
Chris Van Allsburg would be a great author to study artistic style. All of his books are beautifully illustrated and add so much depth and meaning on each page. The lines in Bens Dream move you deeper into the picture and carry you onto the next page. It would be really fun to have my future students try to draw a picture mimicking the line style Van Allsburg uses.
The last page reviews these monuments and a map of how Ben traveled through the flooded dream world in his house. This would be a great book to use to go over geography with my future students. It would be fun to start the year off and see how many of these monuments they already recognized and read it at the end of the year to see how much they learned.
Chris Van Allsburg would be a great author to study artistic style. All of his books are beautifully illustrated and add so much depth and meaning on each page. The lines in Bens Dream move you deeper into the picture and carry you onto the next page. It would be really fun to have my future students try to draw a picture mimicking the line style Van Allsburg uses.
June 14, 2009
Ben falls asleep while studying for a "landmarks of the world" test, and ends of dreaming about them. At the end of the story, we learn that his friend Margaret has a similar dream during her afternoon nap, and that Ben and Margaret had cameos in each other's dreams. Interesting. Enjoyed the Van Allsburg drawings in this book, as usual.
July 3, 2016
Telling half the story without words. Behold the power of images. As an avid reader/listener you tend to focus more on the words of books, but I guess in some cases a picture truely is worth a thousand words.
November 22, 2008
A little too much for Ben right now but will be on my list for a future give-away. As always excellent drawings and a very clever story!
August 28, 2017
I really liked how Chris Van Allsburg write the story and also drew the illustrations. This is a great book for children who are learning about geography.
December 3, 2021
Ben and Margaret wanted to play baseball, but it was going to rain so they both went to their homes to study for a geography test. The rain beat down - and in fabulous illustrations the story is told of Ben's dream of floating past all the geographical sites he was to study. After the rain stopped, Margaret came over to play baseball. That's when they both discovered something surprising and amazing.
March 15, 2015
Ben should be studying for a geography test on great monuments of the world, but the steady rhythm of the rain lulls him to sleep, and his dream begins. A flood of water shakes his house from its foundations and sets it adrift on an around-the-world course, carrying Ben past the incredible structures that were merely pictures on the pages of his book a moment earlier.
Chris Van Allsburg, creator of such titles as Jumanji, Zathura and The Polar Express, brings another great title to add to any one's collection of storytelling.
In Ben's Dream, Ben and his friend Margaret are interrupted from playing baseball one afternoon due to a terrible rain storm. As the pair bike home, Margaret remarks about studying for a geography test that they both have tomorrow. Upon arriving at home, Ben finds himself alone. Taking his geography book to his father's easy chair he begins to study and soon falls fast asleep due to the rhythmic sound on his window from the rain. As soon as Ben's eyes close however, he is thrown into a flooded world where is house is floating past the monuments of the world. From Lady Liberty to Big Ben, the two are pushes past many other sites until finally resting at Mount Rushmore where George Washington informs Ben that he needs to wake up! After doing so Ben realizes that Margaret is standing outside his window and the rain has stopped. After gathering up their equipment to play some baseball and grabbing their bike's, Margaret remarks about a dream that she had while trying to study. She inquires to Ben if he knows who she saw on her adventure and to her amazement he confirms that he was the one in her dream waving at her.
I love the imaginative landscapes that Chris Van Allsburg puts into his stories. He adds to the real landscapes in Ben's Dream by simply flooding the land. He places all the world's monuments as though the world has completely flooded and does so in gray tones. Chris Van Allsburg puts so much detail into each page and drawing. From line details on Ben and Margaret to making ripple effects to show the water moving to giving us a scale to base just how big the monuments truly are to the size of Ben and even his house.
If you have never been introduced to any title by Chris Van Allsburg, please go to your local bookstore or library and check them out! I believe the two widely known are Jumanji and The Polar Express, but all of his titles are true classics and cover a wide range of topics and imaginations.
I recommend for anyone who is a fan of Chris Van Allsburg, about to start geography or go on vacation to one of the world's monuments or anyone who loves to take trips in real life and through the imagination.
Originally posted: http://tiffanyfoxbooks.blogspot.com/2...
Chris Van Allsburg, creator of such titles as Jumanji, Zathura and The Polar Express, brings another great title to add to any one's collection of storytelling.
In Ben's Dream, Ben and his friend Margaret are interrupted from playing baseball one afternoon due to a terrible rain storm. As the pair bike home, Margaret remarks about studying for a geography test that they both have tomorrow. Upon arriving at home, Ben finds himself alone. Taking his geography book to his father's easy chair he begins to study and soon falls fast asleep due to the rhythmic sound on his window from the rain. As soon as Ben's eyes close however, he is thrown into a flooded world where is house is floating past the monuments of the world. From Lady Liberty to Big Ben, the two are pushes past many other sites until finally resting at Mount Rushmore where George Washington informs Ben that he needs to wake up! After doing so Ben realizes that Margaret is standing outside his window and the rain has stopped. After gathering up their equipment to play some baseball and grabbing their bike's, Margaret remarks about a dream that she had while trying to study. She inquires to Ben if he knows who she saw on her adventure and to her amazement he confirms that he was the one in her dream waving at her.
I love the imaginative landscapes that Chris Van Allsburg puts into his stories. He adds to the real landscapes in Ben's Dream by simply flooding the land. He places all the world's monuments as though the world has completely flooded and does so in gray tones. Chris Van Allsburg puts so much detail into each page and drawing. From line details on Ben and Margaret to making ripple effects to show the water moving to giving us a scale to base just how big the monuments truly are to the size of Ben and even his house.
If you have never been introduced to any title by Chris Van Allsburg, please go to your local bookstore or library and check them out! I believe the two widely known are Jumanji and The Polar Express, but all of his titles are true classics and cover a wide range of topics and imaginations.
I recommend for anyone who is a fan of Chris Van Allsburg, about to start geography or go on vacation to one of the world's monuments or anyone who loves to take trips in real life and through the imagination.
Originally posted: http://tiffanyfoxbooks.blogspot.com/2...
September 14, 2011
Ben’s Dream, one of Chris Van Allsburg’s earlier picture books, is a captivating story of a young boy who takes a journey through some of the worlds most well-known monuments. After having fallen asleep doing geography homework, Ben finds himself drifting afloat in his home, in a dream-world where the earth appears to be submerged in water. The Statue of Liberty, for instance, has water up to her chest and only the head of the Sphinx in Egypt can be seen from Ben’s perspective.
It is this perspective Van Allsburg has created with his drawings that make this book so mesmerizing. He purposefully provides the reader with a rare look and vantage point through his illustrations. For instance, we see the top of Ben’s home next to the top of Big Ben in London. Again on the next full page spread the reader sees Ben’s home through the top of the steel grates of the Eiffel Tower in France. Van Allsburg is a masterful artist who encourages the reader to dwell on his intricate line drawings, most likely done with charcoal pencil, in this surreal picture book. He incorporates distinctive details in his drawings that can only be appreciated when readers are paying close attention. For instance, the birds flying around the Sphinx’s head and the changing flow and ripple of the water are unnoticeable during a first reading.
The synergy, as well, that is created between the text and the illustrations in this picture book is unique. The story is 32 pages long and only five pages have a combination of text and illustrations. Van Allsburg stops writing text, as soon as Ben falls asleep, and lets the reader envision what might be said as the house floats by the submerged monuments. And again, the text reappears when Ben is woken up by George Washington in the dream world and Margaret simultaneously tapping on Ben’s window in the real world. Like many of Van Allsburg’s books, Ben’s Dream, exists somewhere between the real world and the fantasy world. Van Allsburg lures his readers into his stories with strange events (the fishing pole on page 24 and 25) and surprise twists at the end (Ben and Margaret had the same dream) all of which make for an enjoyable and unusual reading experience.
It is this perspective Van Allsburg has created with his drawings that make this book so mesmerizing. He purposefully provides the reader with a rare look and vantage point through his illustrations. For instance, we see the top of Ben’s home next to the top of Big Ben in London. Again on the next full page spread the reader sees Ben’s home through the top of the steel grates of the Eiffel Tower in France. Van Allsburg is a masterful artist who encourages the reader to dwell on his intricate line drawings, most likely done with charcoal pencil, in this surreal picture book. He incorporates distinctive details in his drawings that can only be appreciated when readers are paying close attention. For instance, the birds flying around the Sphinx’s head and the changing flow and ripple of the water are unnoticeable during a first reading.
The synergy, as well, that is created between the text and the illustrations in this picture book is unique. The story is 32 pages long and only five pages have a combination of text and illustrations. Van Allsburg stops writing text, as soon as Ben falls asleep, and lets the reader envision what might be said as the house floats by the submerged monuments. And again, the text reappears when Ben is woken up by George Washington in the dream world and Margaret simultaneously tapping on Ben’s window in the real world. Like many of Van Allsburg’s books, Ben’s Dream, exists somewhere between the real world and the fantasy world. Van Allsburg lures his readers into his stories with strange events (the fishing pole on page 24 and 25) and surprise twists at the end (Ben and Margaret had the same dream) all of which make for an enjoyable and unusual reading experience.
February 23, 2015
Ben's Dream is another one of Allsburg books that is in black and white and stills is very intriguing. Ben and Margret are two friends who have a geography test the next day and Ben does not feel prepared. So he takes a nap and begins this adventurous dream across the world as his house comes afloat of a flooded earth. Ben travels to Egypt, Paris, Mount Rushmore and many more places but in the story you see two houses traveling across the world. Ben survives the epic flood and is awake to Margret who had the same dream and is why two houses are shown throughout the story. The book also only contains words on the first two pages. As Chris Van Allsburg illustrations of his books have such great artiste this story shows much success with cross shading. For instance, the water is almost a mere illusion because it is not your typical shape and form of water. The water has almost a sand like appearance but shows the difference in when the storm is calm and the storm is brewing. Like most of Allsburg books can be used for instructional purposes this book is a very great book to start on teaching geography. I feel with this book children can see different parts of the world in a glimpse and be able to grasp that our world is made up of more than just America. Nevertheless this book is ideally great for children because there is little texts and the pictures pop out at you with great detail.
August 8, 2019
Ben and his friend Margaret are racing on their bikes to get home before the rain. They both decide this would be a perfect time to study for their geography test the next day on landmarks of the world. As Ben starts to study, the quietness of the house and the rhythmic sound of rain lolls him to sleep. THEN, suddenly his house tilts, the door flies open and his house is adrift in a tour that takes Ben around the world to all the landmarks that he is studying. I love the perspective of the different landmarks, making them just a little stretch to decide what they are. As Ben floats by the Sphinx in Egypt he sees Margaret floating by in her house and waves to her. When Ben wakes up, he finds that Margaret had a similar dream and each remembers seeing each other in it. A little spooky, but an interesting way to realize that sometimes we have similar dreams as others.
I like the pen and ink drawings. Since most people dream in black and white, it was a way to connect that and also to have you look at the drawings more closely for the details you might have missed the first time through.
I like the pen and ink drawings. Since most people dream in black and white, it was a way to connect that and also to have you look at the drawings more closely for the details you might have missed the first time through.
May 12, 2017
Ben falls asleep reading his geography book and has a most remarkable dream that takes his house all around the world.
Now THIS is more like it when it comes to a Van Allsburg dream book. It still doesn't have TOO much by way of story, and it never really explains why everything is flooded, except as a device to float by everything and see it from a new perspective, but it's imaginative and spooky in that cool kind of way. (And of course it's refreshingly minus a blatant agenda.)
EDIT: Oh wait, it's flooded because it's raining when he falls asleep. Okay then, that works.
Now THIS is more like it when it comes to a Van Allsburg dream book. It still doesn't have TOO much by way of story, and it never really explains why everything is flooded, except as a device to float by everything and see it from a new perspective, but it's imaginative and spooky in that cool kind of way. (And of course it's refreshingly minus a blatant agenda.)
EDIT: Oh wait, it's flooded because it's raining when he falls asleep. Okay then, that works.
Read
September 11, 2012Yet another magically adventurous story by Van Allsburg, I really enjoyed the historical imagery included in this story and their descriptions at the end of the book. Although dialogue is only included in the first and last portion of the book, it was fun creating what might be going through Ben's head as he traveled through the different landmarks that he was studying for geology. This book goes to show the fun adventure you can embark on when you use your imagination.
July 31, 2018
Ben and Margaret pedal home in a rainstorm to study for a geography test. As he studies, Ben drifts off and suddenly his house fills with water. He begins to float away and floats past the many landmarks he’s been studying, like the Eiffel Tower, Great Wall of China, etc.
Fantastic black and white illustrations
Fantastic black and white illustrations
June 19, 2008
I really liked how the dream did not have any words with it. It was a fun book and I liked how it connected at the end. both Ben and his friend had the same dream and it was about different landmarks around the world.
December 16, 2018
Beautiful illustrations as always, albeit black and white ones which will appeal to parents more than their kids. Hardly a story at all, however, as over 2/3 of the book lacks words at all. For Van Allsburg completionists only, or kids who really dig monuments.
August 26, 2016
A simple story about a boy's fantastic dream, with intricate illustrations.
July 15, 2017
I do not understand the author's fascination with dreaming. I am missing the message again.
October 19, 2017
Another good book about a dreamer. Great to use for comparison with “Just a Dream”. Teaches important international landmarks. Loved the sepia tones of these illustrations.
December 2, 2017
Genre: Modern Fantasy
Grade: 2nd-4th
I greatly enjoyed this one, beautiful pictures, very few words. and it leaves you with the question, did this really happen or was it all just a dream?
Grade: 2nd-4th
I greatly enjoyed this one, beautiful pictures, very few words. and it leaves you with the question, did this really happen or was it all just a dream?
February 25, 2018
One of Van Allsburg's earlier works, in black and white but typically another extremely clever picture book.
Yet another winner.
Yet another winner.
March 30, 2018
I was drawn in by Chris's artwork. The little boy in the story falls asleep while studying for his geography test. His dream takes him to famous landmarks.
June 27, 2018
Adorable. If you are a fan of geography, it would be a fun way to engage children in the wonders of the world and other geographical locations. Simple and sweet.
February 16, 2020
The geometric inkwork here is a departure for Van Allsburg; it's stylized, almost obtrusive, but gives movement and shape to the landmarks. The premise is most effective when it's at its most surreal, like the view through the iron lattice of the Eiffel tower down to the impossible sea and floating house--the architecture looms, awesome and impossibly present; it's a decently diverse and recognizable selection. But elements like Mount Rushmore haven't aged well and are played for laughs, and while the humor is a charming counterbalance it's nothing special and, as always, detracts from what I like best.
July 28, 2020
I have always enjoyed Ben's Dream but was recently questioned about whether to include it in classroom collections due to controversy about monuments, so decided to read it again. I feel the depiction is more about size and the extraordinary nature of some of the world's monuments, but now find myself questioning my sensitively regarding how many of these were created and what they represent to all cultures. Not something I would pull from my library collection, but will consider balancing collections that include this title.
July 4, 2023
The sweeping, wordless, black and white illustrations of monuments in water are the highlight of this story. I snorted at the way our main character wakes up from his dream. For a nice touch, the last page has facts on each monument showed up, which is surely appreciated by many kids and parents/educators.
November 2, 2025
On a rainy stormy day, Ben is inside studying for a test when he falls asleep. In his dream he is travelling the world in a floating house past all these famous landmarks, which are half submerged in water. Liked how the words for the story were in the beginning and at the end but it was just pictures in the middle. Great to spark interest in famous landmarks.
December 1, 2025
I'm getting to like Allsburg style of art and stories. This could be a simple story of a kid falling asleep and dreaming but those pages of no text but artwork of Allsburg mind blown me. No words needed to tell the dream of the kid. The ending is satisfying that involves the two protagonist in the story without any illustration of the moment. Highly recommended.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 116 reviews